If you loved Marielle Heller’s “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” and gravitate towards films with sassy, precocious female leads, you’re in luck. The Orchard has acquired the North American rights to “Carrie Pilby,” another woman-directed coming of age dramedy starring “Diary” breakout Bel Powley. The Orchard plans to release the film in early 2017, Deadline reports.
Directed by Susan Johnson, “Carrie Pilby” centers on an a genius (Powley) who struggles to adapt to life in the world outside of academia. Carrie graduated from Harvard at the age of 18, but finds herself lagging behind her peers in other areas of life. She seeks refuge from the outside world — which she’s convinced is full of oversexed hypocrites — in her apartment. After reluctantly agreeing to work on a checklist of goals her psychiatrist (Nathan Lane) created for her, Carrie enters the world of dating and the job market.
“I love that Carrie is a strong, intelligent, and funny young woman, but completely flawed like the rest of us. Just when she thinks she has it all sorted, reality slaps her in the face,” Johnson told Women and Hollywood. The director identified funding as the biggest challenge in making the film. She explained, “Our story is centered on a female protagonist, written by a woman, produced by extremely successful female producers, and helmed by a first-time female feature director making the transition from producing. Getting people to pay attention to us was much harder than it should have been.”
“Carrie Pilby” is based on Caren Lissner’s bestselling book and was adapted for the big screen by Kara Holden. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Foreign rights for the film will be up for grabs at the American Film Market this week.
